


The End

by heeeymackelena



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Infinity War, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 10:45:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14692578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heeeymackelena/pseuds/heeeymackelena
Summary: While the rest of the team worries about Coulson's fate, Elena thinks about Mack and her future self's warnings.





	The End

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry.

_ “Mack. He’s still alive?” _

 

Elena’s stomach has been doing flips ever since Daisy broke the news about the last remaining dose of centipede serum. Her future self had been right, and none of their actions so far had changed the dark future she’d warned her about. While the rest of the team worried about Coulson’s fate, she paced up and down the halls worrying about her future self’s other predictions.

 

_ “Hold him for as long as you can.” _

 

For a while, thoughts of Mack’s death had kept her up at night, making her shift closer to him in the dark. Then she’d lost her arms and laughed cynically at how predictions don’t always mean what you think they mean. And that her future self was a vague, unhelpful  _ puta. _

She didn’t think about those words again until she’d killed Ruby and Mack wouldn’t even look at her, let alone touch her.

 

_ “I wanted to save you from the pain.” _

 

Mack was right. Going to the future had messed her up. Everything she did was out of fear of what she’d seen. By trying to solve problems in advance she had brought about the circumstances they were in now.

She stops her pacing when she sees Mack sitting on the floor half way down the hall, head in his hands. Her first instinct is to go to her partner and comfort him. Her hands clench and the soft  _ tink-tink _ of metal on metal reminds her why she can’t. 

Her fingertips burn for a second at the memory of what it was like to touch him.

 

_ “I was on fire...” _

 

Sensing her presence, Mack looks up. There’s a moment of silence between them, Elena not knowing how to act around him anymore. He’s the one to finally break the tension.

“Hey.”

Not much, but it’s something. A step in the right direction. She moves to stand by his feet.

“Are you worrying about Coulson too?” he asks.

Elena thinks over her answer for a moment. She still hadn’t shared her future self’s words with anyone else.

“I’m more worried about you.”

“I’m fine. He’s the one who’s dying.”

Mack heaves out a sigh, as if the fate of the world rested on his broad shoulders alone.

“You’re always my first priority.”

Her response makes Mack glance at her metalic hands, a permanent reminder of that statement.

“Yeah, we need to talk about that. I thought I told you not to sacrifice yourself for me anymore.”

“Ah! You said not to take any more bullets for you. And I haven’t.”

He lets out a quiet laugh as he shakes his head at her. He watches as the smile slips from her face and the gravity of the situation moves in to suffocate them once more.

“Come here.” He opens his arms.

She doesn’t hesitate to crawl into the space between his legs and settle against his chest. His arms immediately wrap around her and she’s able to breathe for the first time in days.

 

_ “Reaching for Mack...” _

 

“I thought I had lost you.” She whispers against the fabric of his shirt, so softly that he almost didn’t hear her.

“No... Never. We’ve been through too much together.”

He turns his head slightly to press his lips against the side of her head.

She closes her eyes and takes in the feeling of being wrapped in his arms. His warmth pressed against her back and his breath tickling her ear. She breathes in his familiar scent and feels whole again.

Suddenly, Mack sits up slightly.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“Did you feel that?”

Before she can ask what he means, she sees the hand holding her own start to crumble.

“Mack?”

She turns around in his arms as they start to disappear as well. 

“Elena, I-”

She catches sight of his face just in time to see his frightened expression, before it too is gone. Turned to dust.

“Mack?” She grabs at the dark ashes but they just slide through her cold metal fingers. “Mack!”

 

_ “And then there was nothing there.” _


End file.
